The relentless rise of digital has left most retail sectors grappling with how to maintain relevancy for the bricks-and-mortar component of their offer. The banking sector is no exception – indeed it’s one of the best examples of how (or not) to solve the conundrum between a physical presence and a cost-effective online transaction.

At RBR’s recent ‘Branch Transformation’ conference in London, 510 banking delegates from around the world gathered for 2 days of talks on the subject, and I-AM’s Group Managing Director, Jon Blakeney, was one of the speakers.

Jon used his talk to focus on one of the industry’s trending topics: ‘The branch of the future’. While most bankers believe that branches are the best environment for serving and selling, many banks seem to feel the need to over-correct the natural tendency towards digital transactions, and in so doing they invest in unnecessarily elaborate flagship branches.

The 64-million dollar question is ‘For whom are you actually designing these branches?’

Referencing some of the many customer-centric bank design projects that I-AM have delivered over the years, Jon argued that ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ is the wrong approach to branch transformation. Instead, prioritising customer insight and local market knowledge means that banks can design branches that exceed customer expectations and deliver the right bank for today, in whatever form that might take.

See the whole presentation and read Jon’s 5 tips for branch success by clicking the link to the right.